Speaking of quad headlights, I seem to recall an episode of either "Dennis the Menace" or "Leave It to Beaver" where the kids were bragging about their fathers and one kid yells, "Oh yeah? Well, my Dad's car has FOUR headlights!"
They killed a red-light ticket camera in the Cincinnati area.. Made them give all the money back to those who paid the fines... Elmwood Place, if you want to Google.. Ohio is starting to crack down on the speed-trap localities. Those Mayor's Courts are a joke..
KY fixed that by moving everything to state court, where the locality gets none of the proceeds from the fine.
@lemko said:
Speaking of quad headlights, I seem to recall an episode of either "Dennis the Menace" or "Leave It to Beaver" where the kids were bragging about their fathers and one kid yells, "Oh yeah? Well, my Dad's car has FOUR headlights!"
For some reason, I could see Beaver's friend Gilbert saying that.
Speaking of Dennis the Menace, what did the Mitchells drive? I remember Mr. Wilson usually drove a fairly basic full-sized Ford. I remember a black '59. But I can't recall seeing the Mitchells' car.
On the subject of headlights, in a nod to the old Johnny Cash song, "One piece at a time", well the donor fender that my mechanic is cutting up to fix the rust on my '57 DeSoto is a single headlight model.
I just hope that when I pull the switch (or rather, turn the knob), all three of 'em come on!
Now I'm not sure, but I seem to recall that Mr. Wilson drove Mercury's while Dennis' family drove Ford's. For some reason I seem to recall Dennis' dad in a 59 Ford and Mr. Wilson in a '60 Mercury. But I didn't watch that show much growing up.
I seem to recall Dennis and Tommy having that boasting contest - "my dad's car has four headlights!" - "oh yeah, my dad's car has tailfins!"
Mr. Mitchell had a late model basic Ford sedan, I think. Mr. Wilson did too, although I think he had a Galaxie hardtop by the Gail Gordon years (I can't access IMCDB from here). And there was an episode when Mrs. Mitchell received a new Falcon as a surprise, the raffle episode where Dennis sold the winning ticket to an old lady who gave her previous car, a teens era electric, as a gift.
So the second Mr. Wilson is where I got the Mercury from. But I still think there was a '60 Merc in there somewhere. But what the heck, I much preferred Leave It To Beaver and generally liked their Mopars better as well (except the original year with a 57 Ford I also liked). Your shots reconfirmed my preferences for the 59 Chevy over that year Ford though Fin! And I still like the original '60 Valiant over the '60 Ford Falcon (even if it was a much bigger seller).
I actually saw TWO '60 Mercury hardtop sedans this morning. A light colored one and a dark colored one. Can't get any more specific than that, because "The Donna Reed Show" is in black and white...
I followed a Dodge Omni into work today.. I think it was a later model (late '80s). Completely stock, down to the steel wheels.. and rear wiper. Looked as good as it probably did, a year after it was purchased...
@stickguy said:
My wife's horizon is still the best car I ever drove in the snow. Maybe the AWD RDX could best it, but have never really been able to test it.
The "old-style" FWD, with a lot of weight over the front wheels was the best.. My '82 Accord hatchback was unstoppable..
I've heard those FWD Omni/Horizons were good in the snow. My old 2000 Intrepid wasn't so great, but I think that's because it sat too low, so when the snow got too high it would start to "snow bank" itself, for lack of a better word.
My 2000 Park Ave seems better in the snow, but I think it also has a bit higher ground clearance. Plus I'm sure the traction control and ABS help. The Intrepid had neither.
Oh, yesterday I saw something that could have been one of my old cars, but there's a snowball's chance in hell that thing is around. I saw a light jadestone 1982 Cutlass Supreme coupe, with color keyed rally wheels, and it had the Brougham grille inserts. Mine was just a base model, but I had broken one of the inserts, and found some from an '82 Brougham in a junkyard and replaced them both.
Considering I got rid of that car back in 1994, and the engine was on its last legs, I'd be really shocked if it was still running around. But, you never know! I guess it's possible that someone held onto it, and threw another used engine in? The body was still solid, although the paint was fading. And it had a freshy rebuilt transmission in it, thanks to yours truly...
The horizon also had skinny tires. That helps a lot. And the 3 speed at worked like a sequential since you could go up and down all the gears to avoid braking. Unstoppable little beast.
@stickguy said:
The horizon also had skinny tires. That helps a lot. And the 3 speed at worked like a sequential since you could go up and down all the gears to avoid braking. Unstoppable little beast.
The Omni I saw today looked like it was riding on original-sized tires.. 165-80-13 or something like that, I would guess
Even bigger cars in those days didn't really have very huge tires. My 1980 Malibu coupe had 195/75/R14 tires. My '82 Cutlass Supreme had 205/70/14. The standard tire on something like a 1979 Newport or St. Regis is a skinny 195/75/R15, but I think the New Yorker/5th Ave may have had bigger tires. I have 225/70/R15's on mine. Before I got the new whitewalls, it was actually running 235/70/R15's, that were worn down to almost racing slicks. I've only driven it to car shows, or in nice weather, for years now, so I have no idea how those would have done in the snow...pretty horribly, I'd imagine.
The wife of the elderly couple I bought my '57 DeSoto from said that she really liked the way it handled in bad weather, which was one reason they held onto it as a second car instead of trading, when they bought a '64 Pontiac Catalina. I'd imagine the skinny bias ply tires probably helped, since they didn't leave a huge contact patch, but also in those days I imagine they put snow tires on it in the winter, especially up in Pennsylvania.
But, the '64 Catalina would have also had skinny bias ply tires, so I don't know that it was necessarily worse in the snow. Would the axle ratio make much difference, I wonder? Would a shorter (numerically higher) axle be less likely to spin out, somehow? The DeSoto uses a 3.31:1 axle, whereas the Catalina most likely had a 2.56:1 I'd guess, unless it had a towing or performance package. And the DeSoto's gear ratios are 2.45:1 for first and 1.45:1 for seconds. I don't know what the ratios were on a slim jim.
The spare tire in my '76 LeMans is an FR78-15. I have no idea what that equates to in modern times, though. I want to say the DeSoto's tires are listed at 8.50x14 or something like that. But I think the 8.50 is the widest part of the tire, and not the part that touches the pavement. The part that touches the pavement is actually pretty narrow.
If I wanted to go with radials on that DeSoto, which I might do, I think I'd actually need something like a 235/75/R14 or a 225/80/R14, both sizes that I don't think exist. Coker tire recommends a 225/75/R14, which has an overall diameter of something like 27.6", versus 28.1" for the old bias ply.
@kyfdx said:
The "old-style" FWD, with a lot of weight over the front wheels was the best.. My '82 Accord hatchback was unstoppable..
The relatively narrow aspect, tall sidewall tires they used back in the day helped traction in snow a lot. They dug in, through the top layer of snow, sometimes making contact with the pavement, rather than skimming over the snow, as modern wide, low aspect tires tend to do.
Also, those older cars generally had more ground clearance than modern cars.
I just went back and read the preceding posts, which I had skipped over in writing my response to kyfdx, and realized that my two points had already been made.
My dad had a Horizon (4 door) when I was a kid, he really liked that car. Not surprisingly, he claimed that it was the best snow car he ever had. He also claimed it handled decently enough, and I remember he often drove it in a spirited manner, but I don't know if that was real, or just relative, in the malaise era.
Going back to an earlier time than the Omni/Horizon, the original VW Beetle and Renault Dauphine had terrific traction in snow. However, with all that weight in the back, they were a handful if the rear wheels lost traction in a curve, or even a strong cross wind. The same, to a little lesser extent, could be said of the Corvair.
speaking of 911s, I saw one last night wandering around my neighborhood while I was walking the dog. White cabriolet. Older, with the huge rear overriders. and a whale tail. I think it was in the +/- 1979 vintage. Definitely the older "pug" style. sounded like a classic air cooled Porsche, and looked reasonably clean. but darn, it was a beautiful, cool, non-humid night, and the top was up!
@andre1969 said:
The spare tire in my '76 LeMans is an FR78-15. I have no idea what that equates to in modern times, though. I want to say the DeSoto's tires are listed at 8.50x14 or something like that. But I think the 8.50 is the widest part of the tire, and not the part that touches the pavement. The part that touches the pavement is actually pretty narrow.
If I wanted to go with radials on that DeSoto, which I might do, I think I'd actually need something like a 235/75/R14 or a 225/80/R14, both sizes that I don't think exist. Coker tire recommends a 225/75/R14, which has an overall diameter of something like 27.6", versus 28.1" for the old bias ply.
IIRC, F is something like 7.75", which would equate to about a 195... 78 is the aspect ratio, just like 70 or 80 or 65.... So, 195/78-14
Before they went to the letter tire sizing, the "normal" tire size for a regular-size car in the late '60s was 7.75x14, with 8.25x14 being the next size up. That translated into F and G sizes when they went to that standard. What I was never sure of was when they changed to the 7.75 and 8.25 sizes from the previous 7.50 and 8.00 sizes of the 1950s, and why.
Unless it is a chop job, 911 Cabrio would be 1983 or later, assuming a US model.
A white whale tail 911 cabrio is definitely an 80s dream car, I really wanted one of those when I was maybe 11 or so.
@stickguy said:
speaking of 911s, I saw one last night wandering around my neighborhood while I was walking the dog. White cabriolet. Older, with the huge rear overriders. and a whale tail. I think it was in the +/- 1979 vintage. Definitely the older "pug" style. sounded like a classic air cooled Porsche, and looked reasonably clean. but darn, it was a beautiful, cool, non-humid night, and the top was up!
Spotted an odd one this morning after fueling up at the local Sunoco - spotted a white Clenet on a rolltop truck near the NE corner of Rising Sun Avenue and Longshore just west of Bingham in NE Philly. Here's a picture of a Clenet for reference:
Cool picture of two Philadelphia police cars when they were transitioning from the iconic red cars to the more common blue and white livery. Today's PPD livery is a boring white.
Beautiful car, but I wish they'd ditch the pimpy wire wheels. Yeah, I know, I know, they 'came that way' but IMO no American car produced after WW II loooks good with wire wheels! Why not? For one, the tires are too small and too fat, and for two, the wheel wells aren't large enough.
A postwar Buick is not a Duesenberg, nor is it an XK 120 Jaguar.
I think wire wheels would look okay on an upper level car, maybe until 1955-56. At least, something like a '55-56 Imperial, Chrysler, DeSoto, Cadillac, or Buick. Maybe not an Olds, Mercury, or Lincoln though, as those cars were a bit cleaner and plainer in style. But by '57, I don't think they were really appropriate anymore. Maybe a Cadillac could still pull it off.
I don't really care for wire wheels on newer, 70's/early 80's cars, but I've owned a couple that had them. Well, wire hubcaps, at least. My Grandmother's '85 LeSabre had them, as did my '79 5th Avenue. I don't think the LeSabre's spokes looked bad, but the Chrysler's did. The LeSabre, at least, had sort of a thicker, intricate pattern that gave a more expensive look than the Chrysler. The Chrysler's spokes also stuck out further, which only drew attention to the fact that they were just hubcaps.
Cadillac had a good looking wire hubcap back in the 1980's, I thought. It was so flat that even the center cap didn't jut out very far, so they gave a better illusion of being a true wire wheel than most of them did. Here's a pic I took a few years back of Lemko's '89 Brougham...
I think it wears them well. I'm trying to think...did GM even offer any type of alloy or sport rim on these big RWD Caddies, or were they always just hubcaps, regular or otherwise? For some reason, it seems like optional wheels were popular on the '77-84 Buick Electra...first those Magnum style wheels, and later on sort of a finned aluminum wheel, that was also common on wagons. But I just can't picture one of the sister cars...a Caddy or a '77-84 Olds Ninety-Eight, as having anything but either wire hubcaps or regular metal ones.
Exactly. European cars. You could get them on a 300SL as well. But a Buick isn't a European car, not even remotely pretending to be. It's form over function, which defines a lot of design of that era. Style rules the day. I doubt the fins on any period car actually offered any stabilization, either.
I too dislike wire wheel hubcaps. I remember the Ciera in my family had them,and they ended up making a clicking noise that drove me nuts. At least the ones on Lemko's Caddy are flat.
@Mr_Shiftright said:
Nah. Rudge wheels came on quite a few 50s European cars---the only down side is that they would be very expensive to retro-fit to a Buick.
Wire wheels on a 2013 Camry DO look like wire wheels on a '53 Buick---it just "clangs" in my head for some reason. It's wrong, horribly wrong.
The whole IDEA of wire wheels was to lighten unsprung weight. You don't put ballet slippers on a hippo (well Disney did, but that's another story).
On the subject of unsprung weight, I wonder if the alloys I put on my '79 5th Avenue make any real difference? When I drove it up to Carlisle last week, it felt like it handled a bit better, but that could simply be because it has new tires on it. I remember once, stepping on a bathroom scale while holding one of that car's tires, mounted on a copcar rim, and then weighing just myself. The tire/rim combo came out to something like 52 or 53 pounds. I wish I had thought to weigh one of those Mirada alloys, to compare to one of the old steel 15x7 copcar wheels I have sitting around the garage. Too late now, as they're on the car!
I think the tires I bought for my 5th Ave were 28 pounds apiece, for a 225/70/R15. So I'd guess that would put the steel rim at around 24-25 lb. The alloy wheels definitely feel lighter, to pick up, but I don't know if they're lighter enough to make any real difference.
Even if the alloys were 10 pounds apiece lighter, would 40 pounds of unsprung weight, total, really make a difference on a car that weighs around 4,000 lb? (base weight was 3850 but a/c and a few other things were still technically optional even by '79)
I had the Buick chrome styled steel wheels on my '79 Park Avenue. Something like a Magnum 500 wheel but not exactly - the center section is a bit different. Nice wheels. Both Buick and Olds offered an alloy wheel in the '80s on the big RWD wagons. I guess they differed only in the center cap. I wanted one of those wagons for a long time but never got one, and they are mostly gone now. Through most of the '80s you could only get them with an Olds 307 engine which really wasn't enough motor. I test-drove one, an '84, in '97 and it was fine until you tried to gather speed on an uphill grade.
Speaking of wire wheel covers, my '78 Olds Delta 88 had a set of aftermarket wire covers on it when I bought it and they also made that clicking noise which drove me nuts. I went to a junkyard and got a set of the proper Olds wheel covers for $20, much better.
Comments
Speaking of quad headlights, I seem to recall an episode of either "Dennis the Menace" or "Leave It to Beaver" where the kids were bragging about their fathers and one kid yells, "Oh yeah? Well, my Dad's car has FOUR headlights!"
They killed a red-light ticket camera in the Cincinnati area.. Made them give all the money back to those who paid the fines... Elmwood Place, if you want to Google.. Ohio is starting to crack down on the speed-trap localities. Those Mayor's Courts are a joke..
KY fixed that by moving everything to state court, where the locality gets none of the proceeds from the fine.
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For some reason, I could see Beaver's friend Gilbert saying that.
Speaking of Dennis the Menace, what did the Mitchells drive? I remember Mr. Wilson usually drove a fairly basic full-sized Ford. I remember a black '59. But I can't recall seeing the Mitchells' car.
On the subject of headlights, in a nod to the old Johnny Cash song, "One piece at a time", well the donor fender that my mechanic is cutting up to fix the rust on my '57 DeSoto is a single headlight model.
I just hope that when I pull the switch (or rather, turn the knob), all three of 'em come on!
Now I'm not sure, but I seem to recall that Mr. Wilson drove Mercury's while Dennis' family drove Ford's. For some reason I seem to recall Dennis' dad in a 59 Ford and Mr. Wilson in a '60 Mercury. But I didn't watch that show much growing up.
I seem to recall Dennis and Tommy having that boasting contest - "my dad's car has four headlights!" - "oh yeah, my dad's car has tailfins!"
Mr. Mitchell had a late model basic Ford sedan, I think. Mr. Wilson did too, although I think he had a Galaxie hardtop by the Gail Gordon years (I can't access IMCDB from here). And there was an episode when Mrs. Mitchell received a new Falcon as a surprise, the raffle episode where Dennis sold the winning ticket to an old lady who gave her previous car, a teens era electric, as a gift.
Mr Wilson's car in season 1, a 56 Fairlane:
In season 2, he had this:
This 62 Mercury was driven by Gail Gordon as Mr. Wilson, and the 62 Ford belonged to Mrs. Elkins:
The Mitchell car in season 1, a Galaxie rather than a base car:
I swear the Mitchells also had a 61-62 Ford 4 door HT in later episodes.
The Falcon:
The electric car (Baker, 1916):
So the second Mr. Wilson is where I got the Mercury from. But I still think there was a '60 Merc in there somewhere. But what the heck, I much preferred Leave It To Beaver and generally liked their Mopars better as well (except the original year with a 57 Ford I also liked). Your shots reconfirmed my preferences for the 59 Chevy over that year Ford though Fin! And I still like the original '60 Valiant over the '60 Ford Falcon (even if it was a much bigger seller).
The IMCDB page lists a few Mercury of that era
Here's a classic shot with a rare 60 Mercury:
I actually saw TWO '60 Mercury hardtop sedans this morning. A light colored one and a dark colored one. Can't get any more specific than that, because "The Donna Reed Show" is in black and white...
I followed a Dodge Omni into work today.. I think it was a later model (late '80s). Completely stock, down to the steel wheels.. and rear wiper. Looked as good as it probably did, a year after it was purchased...
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My wife's horizon is still the best car I ever drove in the snow. Maybe the AWD RDX could best it, but have never really been able to test it.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
The "old-style" FWD, with a lot of weight over the front wheels was the best.. My '82 Accord hatchback was unstoppable..
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I've heard those FWD Omni/Horizons were good in the snow. My old 2000 Intrepid wasn't so great, but I think that's because it sat too low, so when the snow got too high it would start to "snow bank" itself, for lack of a better word.
My 2000 Park Ave seems better in the snow, but I think it also has a bit higher ground clearance. Plus I'm sure the traction control and ABS help. The Intrepid had neither.
Oh, yesterday I saw something that could have been one of my old cars, but there's a snowball's chance in hell that thing is around. I saw a light jadestone 1982 Cutlass Supreme coupe, with color keyed rally wheels, and it had the Brougham grille inserts. Mine was just a base model, but I had broken one of the inserts, and found some from an '82 Brougham in a junkyard and replaced them both.
Considering I got rid of that car back in 1994, and the engine was on its last legs, I'd be really shocked if it was still running around. But, you never know! I guess it's possible that someone held onto it, and threw another used engine in? The body was still solid, although the paint was fading. And it had a freshy rebuilt transmission in it, thanks to yours truly...
The horizon also had skinny tires. That helps a lot. And the 3 speed at worked like a sequential since you could go up and down all the gears to avoid braking. Unstoppable little beast.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
The Omni I saw today looked like it was riding on original-sized tires.. 165-80-13 or something like that, I would guess
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Sounds about right. My sporty colt we had at the same time (turbo suspension but not engine sadly) had practically racing 185/60-14s I think.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Even bigger cars in those days didn't really have very huge tires. My 1980 Malibu coupe had 195/75/R14 tires. My '82 Cutlass Supreme had 205/70/14. The standard tire on something like a 1979 Newport or St. Regis is a skinny 195/75/R15, but I think the New Yorker/5th Ave may have had bigger tires. I have 225/70/R15's on mine. Before I got the new whitewalls, it was actually running 235/70/R15's, that were worn down to almost racing slicks. I've only driven it to car shows, or in nice weather, for years now, so I have no idea how those would have done in the snow...pretty horribly, I'd imagine.
The wife of the elderly couple I bought my '57 DeSoto from said that she really liked the way it handled in bad weather, which was one reason they held onto it as a second car instead of trading, when they bought a '64 Pontiac Catalina. I'd imagine the skinny bias ply tires probably helped, since they didn't leave a huge contact patch, but also in those days I imagine they put snow tires on it in the winter, especially up in Pennsylvania.
But, the '64 Catalina would have also had skinny bias ply tires, so I don't know that it was necessarily worse in the snow. Would the axle ratio make much difference, I wonder? Would a shorter (numerically higher) axle be less likely to spin out, somehow? The DeSoto uses a 3.31:1 axle, whereas the Catalina most likely had a 2.56:1 I'd guess, unless it had a towing or performance package. And the DeSoto's gear ratios are 2.45:1 for first and 1.45:1 for seconds. I don't know what the ratios were on a slim jim.
185/70-13 on the '82 Accord
B60-13 on the '77 Cobra II
205/55-16 FR, 225/50-16 RR on the '84 911
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The spare tire in my '76 LeMans is an FR78-15. I have no idea what that equates to in modern times, though. I want to say the DeSoto's tires are listed at 8.50x14 or something like that. But I think the 8.50 is the widest part of the tire, and not the part that touches the pavement. The part that touches the pavement is actually pretty narrow.
If I wanted to go with radials on that DeSoto, which I might do, I think I'd actually need something like a 235/75/R14 or a 225/80/R14, both sizes that I don't think exist. Coker tire recommends a 225/75/R14, which has an overall diameter of something like 27.6", versus 28.1" for the old bias ply.
The relatively narrow aspect, tall sidewall tires they used back in the day helped traction in snow a lot. They dug in, through the top layer of snow, sometimes making contact with the pavement, rather than skimming over the snow, as modern wide, low aspect tires tend to do.
Also, those older cars generally had more ground clearance than modern cars.
I just went back and read the preceding posts, which I had skipped over in writing my response to kyfdx, and realized that my two points had already been made.
My dad had a Horizon (4 door) when I was a kid, he really liked that car. Not surprisingly, he claimed that it was the best snow car he ever had. He also claimed it handled decently enough, and I remember he often drove it in a spirited manner, but I don't know if that was real, or just relative, in the malaise era.
Fintail has 13" wheels too.
Going back to an earlier time than the Omni/Horizon, the original VW Beetle and Renault Dauphine had terrific traction in snow. However, with all that weight in the back, they were a handful if the rear wheels lost traction in a curve, or even a strong cross wind. The same, to a little lesser extent, could be said of the Corvair.
speaking of 911s, I saw one last night wandering around my neighborhood while I was walking the dog. White cabriolet. Older, with the huge rear overriders. and a whale tail. I think it was in the +/- 1979 vintage. Definitely the older "pug" style. sounded like a classic air cooled Porsche, and looked reasonably clean. but darn, it was a beautiful, cool, non-humid night, and the top was up!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
IIRC, F is something like 7.75", which would equate to about a 195... 78 is the aspect ratio, just like 70 or 80 or 65.... So, 195/78-14
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Before they went to the letter tire sizing, the "normal" tire size for a regular-size car in the late '60s was 7.75x14, with 8.25x14 being the next size up. That translated into F and G sizes when they went to that standard. What I was never sure of was when they changed to the 7.75 and 8.25 sizes from the previous 7.50 and 8.00 sizes of the 1950s, and why.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Unless it is a chop job, 911 Cabrio would be 1983 or later, assuming a US model.
A white whale tail 911 cabrio is definitely an 80s dream car, I really wanted one of those when I was maybe 11 or so.
Spotted an odd one this morning after fueling up at the local Sunoco - spotted a white Clenet on a rolltop truck near the NE corner of Rising Sun Avenue and Longshore just west of Bingham in NE Philly. Here's a picture of a Clenet for reference:
The one I saw looked similar to this.
Everytime I run into these Clenets they appear in only two stages of condition:
It seems there's no middle ground with these things. There is a market for them however.
Clenet, like a Zimmer with class.
I'd never want one, but I had a slight fascination with neoclassics when I was a kid. I had a 1:24 Majorette Excalibur then, I wanted one of those.
Cool picture of two Philadelphia police cars when they were transitioning from the iconic red cars to the more common blue and white livery. Today's PPD livery is a boring white.
1953 Buick Roadmaster Skylark for sale.
There are 59 pictures of this beauty.
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NTM0WDgwMA==/z/ENcAAOSwFAZTtWRH/$_57.JPG
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Beautiful car, but I wish they'd ditch the pimpy wire wheels. Yeah, I know, I know, they 'came that way' but IMO no American car produced after WW II loooks good with wire wheels! Why not? For one, the tires are too small and too fat, and for two, the wheel wells aren't large enough.
A postwar Buick is not a Duesenberg, nor is it an XK 120 Jaguar.
What the car needs IMO is a type of Rudge wheel:
OR, if you MUST have white walls on a 50s car, something like this perhaps?
Rudge wheel on a 53 Skylark? That would be like wire wheels on a 13 Camry (or that 507, or a 300SL, etc), doesn't look right.
That yellow Buick is a 40s car, technically. I don't mind wires on top of the line early-mid 50s cars, it was a thing then.
Here's one without wire wheels. Wheel covers are unusual for that era to my eye.
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/imidazol97/Beautiful.jpg
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I think wire wheels would look okay on an upper level car, maybe until 1955-56. At least, something like a '55-56 Imperial, Chrysler, DeSoto, Cadillac, or Buick. Maybe not an Olds, Mercury, or Lincoln though, as those cars were a bit cleaner and plainer in style. But by '57, I don't think they were really appropriate anymore. Maybe a Cadillac could still pull it off.
Those look like something off a late 50s Caddy, to me anyway.
I was going to say the same thing, Fin. I vaguely remember those.
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
Nah. Rudge wheels came on quite a few 50s European cars---the only down side is that they would be very expensive to retro-fit to a Buick.
Wire wheels on a 2013 Camry DO look like wire wheels on a '53 Buick---it just "clangs" in my head for some reason. It's wrong, horribly wrong.
The whole IDEA of wire wheels was to lighten unsprung weight. You don't put ballet slippers on a hippo (well Disney did, but that's another story).
I don't really care for wire wheels on newer, 70's/early 80's cars, but I've owned a couple that had them. Well, wire hubcaps, at least. My Grandmother's '85 LeSabre had them, as did my '79 5th Avenue. I don't think the LeSabre's spokes looked bad, but the Chrysler's did. The LeSabre, at least, had sort of a thicker, intricate pattern that gave a more expensive look than the Chrysler. The Chrysler's spokes also stuck out further, which only drew attention to the fact that they were just hubcaps.
Cadillac had a good looking wire hubcap back in the 1980's, I thought. It was so flat that even the center cap didn't jut out very far, so they gave a better illusion of being a true wire wheel than most of them did. Here's a pic I took a few years back of Lemko's '89 Brougham...
I think it wears them well. I'm trying to think...did GM even offer any type of alloy or sport rim on these big RWD Caddies, or were they always just hubcaps, regular or otherwise? For some reason, it seems like optional wheels were popular on the '77-84 Buick Electra...first those Magnum style wheels, and later on sort of a finned aluminum wheel, that was also common on wagons. But I just can't picture one of the sister cars...a Caddy or a '77-84 Olds Ninety-Eight, as having anything but either wire hubcaps or regular metal ones.
Wire hubcaps are the epitome of "faux lux" which really helped to sink Cadillac, IMO. Think of it as a car wearing 4 fake Rolexes.
Regardless of preferences, wire wheel covers are a B... to clean!
Exactly. European cars. You could get them on a 300SL as well. But a Buick isn't a European car, not even remotely pretending to be. It's form over function, which defines a lot of design of that era. Style rules the day. I doubt the fins on any period car actually offered any stabilization, either.
I too dislike wire wheel hubcaps. I remember the Ciera in my family had them,and they ended up making a clicking noise that drove me nuts. At least the ones on Lemko's Caddy are flat.
On the subject of unsprung weight, I wonder if the alloys I put on my '79 5th Avenue make any real difference? When I drove it up to Carlisle last week, it felt like it handled a bit better, but that could simply be because it has new tires on it. I remember once, stepping on a bathroom scale while holding one of that car's tires, mounted on a copcar rim, and then weighing just myself. The tire/rim combo came out to something like 52 or 53 pounds. I wish I had thought to weigh one of those Mirada alloys, to compare to one of the old steel 15x7 copcar wheels I have sitting around the garage. Too late now, as they're on the car!
I think the tires I bought for my 5th Ave were 28 pounds apiece, for a 225/70/R15. So I'd guess that would put the steel rim at around 24-25 lb. The alloy wheels definitely feel lighter, to pick up, but I don't know if they're lighter enough to make any real difference.
Even if the alloys were 10 pounds apiece lighter, would 40 pounds of unsprung weight, total, really make a difference on a car that weighs around 4,000 lb? (base weight was 3850 but a/c and a few other things were still technically optional even by '79)
most likely the tires making the difference is my guess.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Camry, Buick, wire wheels:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5dvAryCHys
I had the Buick chrome styled steel wheels on my '79 Park Avenue. Something like a Magnum 500 wheel but not exactly - the center section is a bit different. Nice wheels. Both Buick and Olds offered an alloy wheel in the '80s on the big RWD wagons. I guess they differed only in the center cap. I wanted one of those wagons for a long time but never got one, and they are mostly gone now. Through most of the '80s you could only get them with an Olds 307 engine which really wasn't enough motor. I test-drove one, an '84, in '97 and it was fine until you tried to gather speed on an uphill grade.
Speaking of wire wheel covers, my '78 Olds Delta 88 had a set of aftermarket wire covers on it when I bought it and they also made that clicking noise which drove me nuts. I went to a junkyard and got a set of the proper Olds wheel covers for $20, much better.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
I had these wire covers on my 93 leSabre.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,